Return of the Monsters
by safetymatches667
Summary: Monsters. The creatures that once hunted humans, eventually fought back by marked individuals. They have decided that the war is a perfect time to strike... Rated T for Violence.
1. Chapter 1

Long, long ago, the every tree grew. Not much is known about where the tree came from, only five beings are old enough to even start to explain. They are Ymir, old man winter and the father of giants. Vrolack, Father of lies and shape shifters. Arachne, Mother of fear and the Jorogumo. Savo Savonic, father of violence and the Asanbosam. Medusa, mother of vengeance and the gorgons. These gods walked the earth before even the great beasts, and soon unleashed their own terrible creations on the world.

Ymir carved the first giants from stone on the tops of mountains. Giants are over fifteen feet tall, and possess the terrible strength to tear a elephants head from its shoulders with one massive arm. Their skin is like armor, their bones harder than steel, giants are like walking fortresses. They devoured all in their path when they ruled. A time where most of the world was frozen, and massive animals marched across the frozen plains. Thanks to the bond, they were driven back to a desolate plateau high in the Amayan mountains. But the giants won't remain there forever... And they're getting hungry...

Vrolack was said to make the shapeshifters out of clay, but never let it dry so they could change as the situation demanded. In their natural form, shapeshifters are rather short, not very strong, and are easily marked out by their dull silver eyes and pointed ears. But they can change into almost anything, be it man, beast, or something in between. They use this ability to commit crimes and assassinations while wearing the face of someone else. They hide in plain sight, waiting for a sign that the time for open war has come.

Arachne laid thousands off eggs. From those eggs hatched beautiful women, well, from the waist up at least. Half of their body was that of a spider. They have the ability to temporarily take on fully human forms, but only used this to lure their prey to a secluded area for devouring. Death by a Jorogumo's poisonous fangs is one of the most painful ways to die. Like all the other monsters, the Jorogumo were fought back into hiding, left to wait for the perfect chance to strike.

Savo Savonic was the last to create a race of monsters. The Asanbosam are terror on wings. Tall, gaunt, and with a mouthful of iron teeth. They would swoop down from Niloan skies and drain the blood of those unfortunate souls who caught outside at night. They were almost killed off, but some managed to survive the brave who turned the tables on the hunters, forcing them into the deepest jungles on Nilo.

Medusa created the gorgons from snakes. In their prime, they were easily the most dangerous creature to slither across Erdas. Their hair were venomous snakes, and their gaze could turn any who met it into stone. They, however, were hunted to extinction thousands of years ago. They supposedly left behind dangerous secrets and weapons, but no living soul even knows where to begin looking.

The ages of the monsters left humanity cowering anywhere they could hide. The giants especially ate many humans to feed their ravenous appetite. Only the spirit animal bond saved them. As Humans organized, bringing multiple marked individuals together, monsters were hunted right back. And now, thousands of years of waiting, the four remaining races sense the coming war is their time to return to the nightmares of humanity.


	2. Chapter 2: Jotunheim

Goliath took another bite out of the bear he just caught. The crunch of none and muscle seeming strangely loud in the isolation of the edge of Jotunheim. The plateau where the giants lived was frigid, always covered in snow and ice, and nearly impossible to leave. Sitting at the closest thing to a way out waiting for the leaders of the other monster races to make it up was the last thing Goliath wanted to do.

Goliath leaned over the edge and looked down to the swirling clouds, no sign of anyone. He leaned back and looked at his reflection in an ice patch he was sitting near. To a human, Goliaths feature would appear angular and even a little primitive. His node was the slightest bit crooked, a feature common amongst a people that would punch each other in the nose just as readily as say hello. Goliath ran a huge hand through his spikey red hair. What was taking so long? Why had the High Chief chosen him to do this? He laid the rest of the way down into the snow with a mountain shaking impact.

The hours continued to go by uneventfully. He sat watching wind blow the trees, the sky, and soon simply began fiddling with the snow. and then... Was that it? The distant sound of something drifted up to the edge. Goliath quickly sat up and crawled to the edge, and there they were. Still about two hundred feet from the top, a group of about a dozen different individuals struggled up the slope. Five of them crawled on spider legs, easily scaling the wall, the others had to move from handhold to handhold. three of them wore dark black cloaks, the other four were tall and pail with wings. The wind around the mountain had apparently proved too strong to fly through.

It was another hour before the first Jorogumo set foot on the plateau. When the whole convoy had finally made it, a lanky shapeshifter- one of the ones that were wearing black cloaks- stepped forward. "So... Who are you?"

Everything the shapeshifter said sounded like a threat. "I was sent here to lead you to the High Chief." Goliaths voice was like rolling thunder. Deep and booming, but he also sounded like he was always falling asleep. Without another word, he turned and thundered off into the forest. Each step the giant took felt like it shook the very core of the earth. Snow fell off the trees as he passed, the group of strangers following in the deep path he left.

"Hey!" Goliath knew the voice was another shapeshifter by the sort of "natural menace" it carried. When he looked back, it was one that had to be about the same age as him, fourteen of fifteen. "Can I ride on your shoulder?" Goliath blinked slowly. What a weird question. "Uhhhhhh... Sure?" the little shapeshifter swiftly turned into a crow and flew up to his shoulder. Once he was settled, he turned back into his natural form.

"What's your name?" the shapeshifter asked. "My name is Goliath," the giant responded in his lazy way, "and what's yours?" The shapeshifter turned to look the giant in the eye, an evil glint in his own. "My name, is Murder." The pair continued to talk as Goliath led the newcomers onto the vast frozen plains of Jotunheim.


	3. Chapter 3: Spider princess

**Hey, just a few things I want to say before the story continues. This is my first story, so I apologize if it doesn't read the best. Also, Chapters are either gonna be kinda short or pretty spaced out because I am currently balls deep in pre-spring testing at school. I am pretty exited to get this going, though.**

Geomi _hated_ it here. The climb up was long, arduous and windy. And was it worth it? Was there something amazing at the top of this gods forsaken mountain? No. All that was up here was ice, snow, wind, and dimwitted masses of muscle called giants. Back home, in the remote jungles of Zhong, it was warm and full of life the Jorogumo could easily exploit. She didn't even know why her mother had brought her here in the first place! Sneaking across three separate continents and almost dying up a mountain didn't seem like it was worth anything, let alone a windy frigid wasteland.

She scuttled through the deep snow path behind their giant guide, the Asanbosam vampires uncomfortably close behind. The red haired behemoth had spent most of the walk talking to a shapeshifter. Geomi never trusted the shapeshifters, something in their eyes just screamed that they would stab you in the back the first chance they got. Goliath suddenly let out a thundering belly laugh. and Geomi didn't like that either. She moved closer to her mother.

"Mom... Why did I have to come here? I could have helped Tarantula run the stronghold while you were..." The spider queen cut her daughter off. "We have discussed this extensively. Just because you are used to a pampered life doesn't mean that you get to live with it forever. You are going to rule much more than the stronghold one day."

Geomi rolled her eyes. Who said that this war would go well for the monsters? It hadn't in the past. In fact, her mother had not only been sure to point out every one of her short comings, but teach her about the colossal fails of every monster race. Once, shapeshifters had gotten far too comfortable replacing rich and in power individuals. The result? Once they were found out, over a thousand shapeshifters were killed in the span of a few days. Not to mention the time the giants killed almost half of their own population in fights over food only about seven years before. She had been taught to see each of the other races for what they were, morons that were only useful for doing what they were told.

Goliath stopped a few feet ahead. Fumbling with his belt a bit, he pulled a huge horn off of his belt and pressed it to his lips. The sound it produced was like a clap of thunder exploding right next to you. The sound rumbled through the small troop of monsters, some of them even taking a step back, stunned by the loud sustained sound. Geomi looked up at Goliath, and began saying "What on Erdas was-" she was silenced by motion from Goliath, he was listening for something. As if it was just on queue, what sounded like two more horns responded somewhere in the distance. Goliath corrected his course and continued walking.

"Shouldn't be much further, a few minuets probably."

Geomi restarted her question. "What was with the horn?" Goliath looked lazily over his left shoulder, the Murder still perched on his right. "Fastest way send messages up here. The High Chief moves his camp everyday, so we need to know where it is."

Geomi probed further, " So who responed?" Goliath didn't look back this time. "That was either Hercules and Samson, or Runcus and Skadi. They usually don't stray too far from Gogmagog. We were actually all raised together since we were about eight." The image of an eight year old giant was really funny to Geomi. By that point, giants had to be about nine feet tall. Geomi was pulled from her amused thoughts when Murder landed softly next to her. He smiled jokingly at her, revealing a mouthful of slightly pointed teeth. "Why aren't you on your new friends shoulder?" She was hoping the creepy creature would return to his perch, but he just shrugged. "He told me to get off." Murder said pointing at the giant. The ground suddenly shook, the sound of a stampede suddenly rampaged across the frozen plains as another giant tackled Goliath from the side.


	4. Chapter 4: Camp of the behemoths

Zane had literally never left the jungle. He hadn't even heard much about the other races, his cousins he often thought about it like. The main reason being that the way the other races communicated didn't lend well to a hostile Niloan jungle. A shapeshifter would turn into an animal or bird of some kind and carry messages between the giants, jorogumo, and the mysterious shapeshifter queen. The danger and remoteness of the jungles of Nilo had often kept the metal mouthed vampires out of the loop.

He had seen many things on the journey to the middle of Amaya, but Jotunheim was such an opposite to the place had lived his whole life. A dense jungle in a valley was almost the exact opposite of the frozen mountain top he and the others were currently traveling across. Zane had been taking note of the environment, they had gone from a snowy forest, to a windswept plain, to an area that had massive boulders and stone spikes surrounding them. The large amount of cover was also the only explanation to how a giant of all creatures could have snuck up on Goliath.

The other giant hit Goliath with the force of an avalanche, the two falling to the ground. The impact made it feel like the whole mountain would come down under their feet. Goliath was quick to retaliate, throwing the giant back where it collided with one of the huge boulders that littered the landscape. Both of the huge combatants stood up. The attacking giant was taller than Goliath, but didn't seem to be as thickly built, and instead of short red hair he was sporting an impressive mop of flowing blonde hair. Expecting another attack, the group of smaller beings tensed back. So when the two instead began to laugh, Zane was utterly confused.

"Samson, I've told you that you will never win, _and_ that sneak attacks don't count." Goliath said as he stood.

The blonde giant simply shrugged and responded,"I only did that because Hercules bet me his dinner that I wouldn't even be able to knock you over. Chief's tent is just behind that bigass outcrop behind me." The two completed the greeting by slamming their heads together with a solid sounding _**THWACK**_. Zane flinched at that one.

The pair of giants walked off toward the final destination of the hike. The shapeshifters were the first to follow, the jorogumo and asanbosam were quick to follow. The camp was just about what Zane had expected, Goliath looked like he fit in perfectly here. A huge fire sat in front of a massive tent, with what looked like two whole bears and some kind of elk were roasting on spits over the inferno. A giant with short black hair, and probably a bit shorter than Goliath-Probably Hercules if Zane had to guess- watched the fire carefully. A bit to the left, two Giantesses did what at first appeared to be banging rocks together. It took Zane a moment to realize they must be making tools or weapons out of stone. Metal probably wasn't very common way up here. Goliath and Samson walked forward into the camp to greet their fur clad friends.

"Welcome back you fire headed lummox." The taller and paler of the two giantesses greeted, accompanied by a solid thump to his chest. "Feels nice to be loved, Skadi." Goliath sarcastically responded. Hercules mimicked the same skull breaking greeting that Samson had given him. The spider queen seemed to grow tired of the scene and said with a growl, "Maybe, we should get to important part before you get back to your barbaric little games." Goliath stopped and glared down at the jorogumo. "Yeah, fine…" Goliath half mumbled.


	5. Chapter 5: The plan

Gogmagog, the High Chief of the giants looked down at the outsiders. He was an imposing figure, the biggest and strongest of the giants. Not to mention the fact that he also had the most impressive beard on the mountain.

"So. Now that all the leaders-except queen treason apparently- are here, what are we to discuss." Gogmagog had the rumbling voice common among the giants, but unlike his titanic brethren he actually sounded awake and interested, forgoing the tired bored demeanor of most giants.

Dracuul, a tall and imposing asanbosam stepped forward. "Well, from what we know thanks to the shapeshifters, the humans have got themselves a little world war going on. I feel that it will be our best time to… Reinstate ourselves in the world."

The spider queen nodded menacingly, "We come into a broken world, and put it back together the way that we want it be. A world with us back in our rightful place."

"We even have a plan" the two adult shapeshifters looked proud of themselves, "The great beasts each have a talisman, a magic trinket of great power. If we could get these, our victory is guaranteed."

Gogmagog looked skeptical. He reclined into a more comfortable position on his pile of furs, one of many in the massive tent. After a moment of pondering, he sat back forward.

"If we do go after these… Talismans… Who exactly will do it? All of us need to be leading our armies, and we need every soldier on the battlefield because, well, waging war on the entire human race is a big undertaking. I don't see where the extra bodies are going to come from."

Dracuul spoke again, in the emotionless way characteristic of the vampiric race, "That is where the children come in. They do not lead, they do not fight on the battlefield, they are perfect for this. It is the reason I brought my own son, Zane."

All of the leaders looked back to the entrance of the tent. Geomi sulked silently, Zane stood stiff as a bored, obviously listening, and Murder was simply sharpening one of his many daggers. The sound of an entire cooked bear being eaten at a frightening pace just outside the tent was probably Goliath eating just before falling asleep.

Soon after, the young giant was standing in the tent. He clearly wasn't that happy, slumped over and tiredly glaring around. The other teenage monsters stood in line with him, expectantly looking toward their parents. None of them had been told about the plan, well, except for Murder. Murder knew about the plan, but he also hadn't seen his parents since he was ten and went off on his own.

The spider queen was the first to speak, "You four will be going and fetching some powerful artifacts for us. And-" A tired, rumbling voice cut her off.

"But why do _I_ have to. Make Hercules go." Goliath had already had his fill of doing things other than hunting for food. Like most giants, if it didn't eventually fill his belly, he lost interest.

The spider queen glared at the giant as Gogmagog answered. "Hercules told me that you were the one who ate one of the bears by yourself. I wanted some. So now, you're going across the world to fight big ugly animals and steal their stuff." The pettiness of giants wasn't something most people remembered.

With slightly annoyed look on his face, Dracuul nodded. "That is, basically your mission. You will be sent down the slope tomorrow."

Zane followed his father to the asanbosam tent, Geomi skulked around a bit more, Murder slipped off somewhere, and Goliath finally fell back down onto his furs with tremendous crash and began snoring loud enough that someone at the bottom of the mountain could hear him.


	6. Chapter 6:The hunt begins

**Hey, sorry for the long break, I've been pretty busy. Anyways, this is a longer chapter. If you have any questions, just ask and I'll answer next Chapter.**

The descent was arduous. Well, it was for Goliath. All the times giants had attempted to escape the mountain, almost supernatural winds had kicked up, and the giants had tumbled down, past the clouds, where they never returned. He carefully maneuvered down, going carefully from place to place. Whenever even a slightly stronger breeze came by, he threw himself against the wall, he wasn't going to be the one to fall to his death.

Zane didn't understand. He knew his people were generally very emotionless, but his father didn't even bat an eye when he sent them down the mountain. He planned to send his own son across the world to gather garbage… And why? Even his companions were… Perplexing.

The giant, a creature that should be fearless coward like a child when faced with the prospect of climbing down the mountain. The shapeshifter just rode on the giants shoulder all day, the two talking and laughing the whole time. And the Jorogumo, well, she barely looked at the others. She mostly just followed in the wake of the giant, who left of trail of broken branches and toppled trees as he walked. Zane guessed that this pattern would continue for the rest of the trip, and it had only been a few hours since they had truly set off.

Terik continued to examine the trail. Something big had come through here, leaving a path of shattered trees and broken branches.

"Do… Do you think the Ravens were telling the truth about the Kolowa?" Conor asked, obviously frightened at the prospect.

Meilin rolled her eyes, "Giants don't exist, Conor. So don't go believing an old legend a stranger told you."

"Well, if it wasn't some huge monster, than what could have done this? Arax?" Rollan added.

Even about a week after the troop had left the mountain, Geomi was still fascinated at how Goliath could move so silently. How a fifteen foot tall, muscle bound meathead clad in bear and buffalo fur could move quietly enough to grab two deer before they even knew they were in danger would perplex her until the day she died.

They seemed to be making progress, somewhat easily tracking the great beast. Some huge horned sheep named Arax. Goliath could smell him, and Zane had even seen him briefly from the air. They were currently hiding from a freak hailstorm under a rock. Well, except Goliath who didn't even seen to notice the head sized balls of ice breaking on his head.

"Well… Now that we're here, what do you want to do?" Murder probed.

Geomi was quick to respond, "Let's play the 'sit here quietly until the storm is over game'?"

Murder glared his silver eyes at the spider. "Why do you hate us? We haven't done anything to you, and you're just all like," Murder changed his face into mock of Geomi's and obnoxiously shouted,"You are all useless and stupid. You all suck. Why am I here?"

Geomi looked furious, "Because you are stupid. My mother taught me the truth of the other races. Shapeshifters always lie, giants are idiots, and the asanbosam are too distant to be useful!" The jorogumo fumed.

Goliath leaned over sideways until he was looking into the nook. "Well that just isn't nice. The other races helped more than the Jorogumo ever did. All your people ever did was sit in your jungle fort and complain about the other races."

The argument was about to continue when Zane spoke up. "We can sit here and argue about who is the best or most useful, but in the end we need something else." The other monsters looked at him curiously (Or angry in Geomis case), "We need to work together. The only reason any of the races survived is because our ancestors helped each other. And if we want to live, we need to work together too."

Murder whistled. "Where did that one come from bat boy?"

Zane seemed to shrink back down. "I'm just saying that maybe we should stop hating each other…"

Goliath scoffed. "The only one here who hates anyone Is little miss muffet over there." This earned him a glare with enough venom to kill an elephant.

"Maybe if your mother sent you across the world because she's afraid of you taking the crown you would hate everybody too." Geomi blurted, obviously something she really needed to get off of her chest.

This earned no sympathy from Goliath."I was sent off on this suicide quest because I ate something the chief wanted to. Cry me a river itsy-bitsy spider. Your kind is ruthless and cruel. Get used to people acting ruthless and cruel." Goliath had been fed up with the jorogumo's attitude for days.

Geomi was about to argue and seemed to consider for a moment before asking,"And what did your parents think about that? I noticed they didn't show up to stop you."

"Well, I'm no expert, but dead people don't often show up to many things." The others were honestly taken aback.

After a moment of awkward silence, Zane finally broke the ice. "What happened? I thought giants were like, indestructible?"

Goliath laughed at that one. "Well, it must've been eight years ago, when I was, well, eight." Goliath fully laid down, the hail had stopped a few minutes earlier. "Before Gogmagog solved our food problem, giants were starving to death left and right."

The group listened intently. "We readily killed each other over every last scrap of food on that godforsaken mountain. And a family of five, well, lets just say the resources didn't quite support us. My sister Gyges, my brother Frebrog, my mom and dad… They didn't make it. I was alone."

Goliath was silent a long time after that, before continuing,"That's when I met Hercules and Samson. We were all alone, except for eachother." Goliath chuckled in a sort of sad way,"Those two are basically my brothers. Well, after we all realized there weren't many of us left, Gogmagog came up with a plan. All of us, rush down the mountain, and grab as many animals as possible. It took about three hundred raids to repopulate up there, and Arax certainly didn't appreciate it."

Geomi suddenly piped up, " Wait. Arax? The one we're after right now? What did he do?"

"When we were climbing up and down he would use his power with the weather to blow us off the mountain. About two hundred of the thousand of us left fell, and they didn't walk away from that one. So next time you think your mom not liking you too much, just realize that your wrong about it being such a bad thing."

Geomi looked annoyed, but also a little ahamed. "The hail stopped a little bit ago. We should get moving, we're close."


	7. Chapter 7: Confrontation

**Sorry if was unclear, but these first few chapters take place in book one. And as always, if you have any questions, just ask.**

Geomi and Murder looked stealthily out of the foliage at a group of soldiers. Led by a blonde boy and a dark skinned girl with her leopard spirit animal. Goliath and Zane had separated from them about an hour ago in search of the source of what they claimed to be "A truly disgusting stench". Clearly the more sensitive smell of the giant and Vampire had let them detect something the shapeshifter and jorogumo could not.

Murder tapped her on the shoulder. "You can make yourself look more human, right?"

Geomi was puzzled at the question. "Yeah, but I don't see the… Oooooohhhh…" With Murders plan finally dawning on her, she began to concentrate.

Her spider like lower body began to disappear. Her eight legs and menacing red markings became designs on an expensive looking silk dress. When she looked back at Murder, he had changed his pointed ears, silver eyes, and pitch black hair into more human features, and his shady black cloak into a drab grey one. The two nodded at each other and stepped into the open.

Zane looked down from his treetop pearch. A few hundred feet away, a group of six on horseback were making there way up towards where Zane and Goliath thought Arax was. Three grown men, two younger boys, and girl that was the same age. Three of them wore green cloaks. Zane spread his bat-like wings and descended from the tree, landing softly next to his giant comrade

"What did you see up there?"

"Six humans. Three of them wear green, that must be the smell. Whatever they use to dye the cloaks must be what smells so awful." Zane responded. The smell was a sort of chemical burning in the nostrils.

Goliath nodded. He could smell the humans. He had actually tasted human flesh before, a wayward adventurer had once climbed up to Jotunheim. After about an hour of fighting with Samson and Hercules, Goliath had come out on top with the meal. And it was delicious. The pair continued to stalk the group as the greencloaks moved into the mountains.

The soldiers stopped and drew weapons as Murder and Geomi Stepped into the open. Immediately going into character, Murder dropped to his knees in faux thankfulness.

"Oh thank the beasts! My cousin and I got lost up here _days_ ago! I thought we would never find any help!" Most of the soldiers didn't seem impressed, but the girl with the leopard fell right into Murders scheme…

"What are your names?" She asked in a concerned voice.

Geomi spoke first, "I'm Geomi, and this is my cousin… Michael. We just need someone to travel with for a while till we find our way.

The blonde boy didn't seem enthralled with this plan. "Don't you see that we're on important business? We can't afford to have civilians with us."

Leopard girl spoke again, this time with a scolding tone, "Shane! They just need some help. As long as they stay out of the way,they'll be fine."

The argument went on for a little while before they agreed to stay at the back of the group.

Goliath and Zane looked on at the scene in front of them. A group of armored soldiers fought with the green cloaks. One had even thrown the huge ram of a cliff a few moments before.

"We aren't the only ones looking for the talismans." Goliath said as he examined the trees around them.

"Your powers of observation are truly stunning." Zane answered unimpressed.

"Thanks. Ah ha!" Goliath grabbed a huge tree and pulled it out of the ground. With a swift flick of his wrist he cleared the branches off and hefted it up. With his other hand, he brought his massive hunting horn to his lips.

Zerif had stabbed Barlow. Rolan thought they were still going to come out of this one with the talisman, but after the sound he heard, he wasn't so sure. It was so loud and low it vibrated through his very being. It made him feel sick to his stomach, but not as much as what he saw emerging from the woods.

A huge musclebound giant, his powerful body covered by a patchwork of bear and buffalo furs and his beefy arms bare, carrying a whole tree like a club. The whole battle seemed to stop for a second as a malicious grin spread across the giant's face. The giant began to stomp forward.

Goliath was pretty happy with what he saw. He could smell their fear. One brave man in armor charged stoically at him, sword raised. With almost a slight flick of his wrist, the soldier was sent flying into the distance with a sickening _Crack!_ Goliath continued his lazy warpath forward, shaking the ground with every step.

Murder took the noisy arrival of what could only be Goliath as sign to join the fight. He jumped into the air, shrinking and growing black feathers across his body. As a crow he soared above the battle. The conquerors, as he found they were called, bravely stood their ground, the green cloaks were beginning to retreat, helping a mortally wounded comrade run while the leopard girl shot arrows at the giant. Goliath didn't even seem to notice.

Zane swooped down on his bat-like wings and grabbed one of the armored men, hoisting him into the air with a scream, Geomi pounced out of nowhere and bit one of the soldiers in the exposed back of the neck, Murder dropped from the sky and sank one of his many daggers deep into the neck of the last standing soldier. By the time the monsters turned around, the green cloaks had fled.

Murder leaned down and looked at one of the dead soldiers. A stylized spiked C was on the breastplate. "So we aren't the only ones looking for these things. Two groups got away, I think the ones in green…" He was interrupted by a sickening wet crunch, "Goliath, do you only ever think about eating?" Murder shot an accusing look at Goliath as what looked like a boot disappeared into his mouth.

Geomi nodded. "We need intel. We need to know when, where why. Know your enemy." The four monsters stood on the mountain top, looking out at the world that had suddenly been opened to them.


	8. Chapter 8: Ninani's rot

**Sorry for the long break, but I've been kinda busy. And on the subject whose side you should be on, I don't know. Are the monsters evil? Or just misunderstood?**

Olvan did not like the news he was hearing. "Tell me again. What do you mean monsters?"

Connor was the first to speak, "Well, it was like some of the monsters from stories my mom told me to get me to behave were there."

Rolan nodded. "I've heard stories from some travelers that if you go high enough into the mountains you see men as tall as trees. Now, I always thought that they just drank from the wrong tavern, but I saw a man the size of a house up in those mountains myself."

"And an Asanbosam." The others looked not to kindly at Abeke, the newest member of the little crew,"My mom used to tell me stories about flying vampires with metal teeth so I wouldn't wander out at night, and one of them had wings."

Olvan rubbed his forehead. "Tarik, get me the book of monsters from the library."

Goliath hated boats. There was only one substantial body of water on Jotunheim, and no boats, but after spending several weeks sitting in the cargo bay of the Jorogumo ship, he didn't have any questions. The ship was run by male jorogumo, creepy mindless bug men that only followed orders. And the giants mood hadn't improved much thanks to the rainy weather in southern Eura. And the news they received from Murder after his meeting with another shapeshifter was _not_ helping.

"What do you mean we can't can't go after the next talisman? All we have to do is follow those others and take it from them." Goliath's voice was like thunder in the forest the monsters had taken refuge in.

"I agree with the giant," Geomi said quizzically, "Why can't we just follow them?"

"Well, the talisman they appear to be after is in a castle, guarded by a giant boar. Only you and I, Geomi would be able to get in. And I am not fighting a giant boar without a giant."

Zane nodded at the logic. "So, what do we do in the meantime? Sit here and wait for the next great beast to make themselves known?"

A wicked grin split the shapeshifters face. "Follow me." And with that, he turned and started toward the hills to the north of the group.

"Well. Okay. Yeah. No explanation? Just walk off? Fine… just… fine…" Goliath begrudgingly trudged after the shapeshifter, leaving his customary trail of destruction. Zane and Geomi shrugged at eachother and followed in the wake of broken trees and smashed branches.

They followed the black cloaked figure for hours, accompanied by complaints like "All eight of my feet hurt" or "If I knew where we were going, I could fly there."

This continued for some time when they finally saw it. Goliath dropped a tree trunk he had been playing with for the last twenty minutes, Zane spat out a mouthful of blood he got from a fox along the way and Geomi cursed. Murder swished his cloak and turned with an exaggerated flourish, and announced "Welcome to one of the lost cities of the Gorgons!"

It was a huge cave, which was carved to look like the gaping maw of a snake. The opening was large enough for Goliath to enter without even bending his head over.

"You know what this means?" The greed was evident in Geomi's voice,"The secrets of the Gorgons, the reason the great beasts had them all killed… We might find it."

"Or its just a big pile of rubble in there." The other three glared at Goliath, who currently had a finger in his ear and was lazily clearing it of wax,"I mean, none of our cities survived."

"Well, if the history my father taught me was right, the last time giants made cities, the world was covered in ice over ten thousand years ago, and gorgons only went extinct about five thousand years ago." Zane responded matter of factly.

Goliath rolled his crimson eyes and was the first monster to stomp into the snakes mouth. "How did you even find this place Murder? It's not like we know where the lost cities are."

The shapeshifter turned into a crow and flew up to a comfortable sitting position."I flew over it going to the rendezvous. Weird huh? Lost for five thousand years found in one morning? Heh…"

The passage eventually opened up into a massive cavern, the four monsters walking on a stone bridge that sat high over the dark abyss (well, there was a bottom somewhere, but none of them could see it). They didn't bring torches on account that monsters could see in the dark, a decision they refretted when Goliaths massive foot came down with a _click._

"Well sh-" Goliaths attempted curse was cut short as two massive hammers swung out of the darkness. The giant was barely able to extend his arms and stop the hammers before the group was crushed.

"Well, that was almost an unfortunate end to this little endeavour. Thank you my large friend." Goliath blinked down at Zane.

"Uhhh… Your welcome, but these massive blocks of iron are rather heavy, so if you could all KINDLY MOVE SO I COULD PUT THEM DOWN!" Geomi and Murder only seemed to notice the giants shaking arms after the outburst.

"Oh, yeah, that would be smart, not getting crushed." Geomi responded as she scuttled forward.

The massive clang of the hammers hitting each other shook the whole cavern. Goliath caught up with the group just in time to see… A single room.

"I almost broke my arms. For one room. Full of old broken glass. Well, this was a waste." Goliath turned to leave when Zane shouted.

"Wait! This is even better than a lost city… This is an alchemy lab" Zane's voice sounded thirsty in a greedy way, his father had told him of the gruesome experiments the gorgons conducted in an attempt separate man and beast, to stop the spirit animal bond.

Goliath didn't seem impressed, but Geomi rushed into the room and began to rifle around everything on the main table. "Imagine what we could find in here", her voice was full of venom,"A new weapon, something useful."

Murder was at a shelf in the back, picking up various jars and containers. Most of them held- or at least use to hold- herbs or ingredients of some kind. Some, like the last jar he picked up, were glass jars that held some disgusting preserved specimen. A giant's eye, a shapeshifters heart, an Asanbosam skull, and even a gorgon brain. The last held a human fetus, which signalled Murder that it was time to put the jars down, then he saw what Zane was looking at.

Zane held an ornate vase or large jug of some kind. He stood examining the picture along the side of the jug. Pictures of a man drinking from the jug and then standing next to an animal. When Geomi and Murder walked up next to him he put the pieces together. He was holding a jug of the most vile creation the great beasts ever put forth… A jar of Ninani's rot.

Zane made loud hissing sound through his iron teeth as he put the jug down,"Do. Not. Touch. That." Zane held his hands like he had just touched something filthy,"Why would the gorgons keep something as toxic as Ninani's rot in here with them?"

Upon hearing what was in the jar, Murder leaped back like it was going to explode and Geomi put her arms in front of her face like it was about to strike her. They had all heard the stories. A single drop would make an Asanbosam vomit their intestines, a shapeshifters flesh would melt right of their bones, and Jorogumo would shrivel and then crumble into dust. The monsters took off back the way they came in a flurry of bat wings, spider legs, and Murder's transformed cheetah feet left Goliath alone.

Ninani… He had heard that name before. But where? It was a memory from a long time ago. Something to do with… Then it hit him. The name was mentioned in his favorite story! The brave hero Kronos and his merry band of Titans! His mother told him the story whenever he was sick. In one of Kronos and his band of Titans great battles with an early human cities left the giants with great spoils of war. One of the treasures they got was a drink called the nectar of Ninani. Kronos drank it, and after a great amount of pain, he was the first and only giant to get a spirit animal, the great sabre cat knife tooth.

Goliath grabbed the jug, which was barely a cup to him and contemplated it. Were the stories of Kronos true? They seemed real enough. A giant and his comrades bravely fighting the humans that burned the great giant cities only weeks after the transgression had occurred was something very believable.

Goliath looked at the jug for almost the entire time it took to reach the mouth of the cave, only looking away to climb over the massive hammers that had almost killed the monsters about twenty minutes before.

"Oh thank the gods! Goliath we thought you were… What are you doing with that?" The rare show of affection or emotion from Geomi was cut short by the sight of the cursed jug.

Murder seemed to instinctively draw one of his many daggers. "Do you know what that poison will do to you?" The other three monsters grouped together and backed away in fear.

Goliath ignored this and continued slowly forward, and with that natural laziness to his voice asked, "Ever hear the story of Kronos and his merry band of Titans?" The other three blinked in confusion.

"No" They answered in unison.

"Well, to make a long and Kickass story short, Kronos and his gang sacked one of the first cities humans ever made in Eura. Among the spoils was a drink the humans called the nectar of Ninani. A drink gifted from a great beast that had something to do with the spirit animal bond. He drank the concoction. He was the first and only giant to summon a spirit animal, Knife tooth the mighty sabre cat. And then he fell in love with a human woman and was betrayed by his halfling children, but that's pretty off topic."

Murder was intrigued, "So, think you can summon an animal?" Geomi and Zane shot him down quickly.

"That's a horrible plan."

"The risk hardly justifies the reward."

Goliath, had however, already made up his mind. "If my head explodes or, tell Skadi that… Tell her to knock Samson and Hercules' heads together while I'm gone." And without another word and before the other monsters could react, Goliath tipped the contents of the ancient jug into his mouth.


	9. Chapter 9: Goliath's dream

**Now that summer is here, I'm gonna try to get a chapter out every week.**

Rolan was never much for reading, but the book of monsters was just too intriguing. None of the green cloaks had ever taken it seriously. And who would have? A book that read like a textbook of imaginary creatures. It also seemed to be an amalgam of much older books. The first pages were made of some kind of animal skin, while last were of old parchment. All the pages had various sketches of each of the monster races, even a snake like one he hadn't seen with the others. The pages also held advice on how to defeat the monsters as well as tips on how to injure them. Things like, "Giant skin too thick for arrows, aim for eyes or use large weapons" or "Asanbosam eyes hypnotic, look away".Rolan eventually closed the book and layed down. They just got more incentive to find Rumfuss.

Meanwhile, halfway across the world, Goliath was about to have a bad time. The first thing Goliath noted about the experience was that maybe drinking from a five thousand year old jug was a bad plan. The thing that he first noticed was the fact that there was enough dust in the liquid to choke a rhino. The next thing he noticed was the intense burning pain that he felt. Like pouring molten lava down his throat, the nectar was probably the most painful thing he was ever going to experience. He dropped the empty jug, shattering it on the ground. Goliath coughed for a while before going as stiff as a board and falling on his back.

When he woke up he was laying in… Snow? He sat up and looked around. From what he could tell, he was in a snowstorm back on Jotunheim. Now how did that happen? He stood up and stumbled around for a minute. It felt like his legs were jelly. He continued to look around in confusion until he saw another giant. Had he been there before?

"Hey! How did I get back here?" The other giant gave no response. And Goliath just realized how strange the other giant looked. He wore a horned helmet that covered his eyes, he was covered in armor that looked like it was made of… ice? His huge snow white beard was tangled in braids and decorated with beads. He leaned calmly on a massive sword, also made of ice. Goliath stared at the strange man for a while.

"Well, Goliath? Is it really taking you this long to figure all of this out?" He spoke with all the same lethargic laziness as most giants.

The winter wind blew for a long time. Goliath didn't even feel cold. Well, giants never really got cold, but this was different. It was about then when Goliath realized what was happening.

"OOOOOooooohhhhhh… This is all in my head?"

Zane went to his knees next to Goliath's head. The giant had gone out almost twenty minutes ago, and only showed signs that he was getting worse. He was sweating, a lot. His buffalo and bear skin shirt was drenched.

"We need to cool him down." Murder's voice was worried,"Quick, let's take his shirt off."

After an awkward glance, Geomi and Zane started. The sewn together mass of fur was not easy to move. Not only was it newly soaked with giant sweat, it was probably as heavy as all three of the smaller monsters combined. After the herculean task of removing the shirt, Geomi went to the huge water skin Goliath kept on his belt, but stopped.

"Wow, I knew giants had tattoos, but never thought they would be so… Intricate." Geomi looked at the giants chest. Runes that were probably the giant language were alongside pictures of animals that she recognized from rock paintings that she'd seen on the way to the giant's home. Creatures that looked like tigers with knives on their mouths, huge hairy rhinos and elephants.

Zane looked at the tattoos in wonder,"The world the giants ruled must've been so strange to witness…"

Goliath looked around again,"Well, it's disappointingly empty in here."

The strange armored giant chuckled,"Well, we aren't exactly in your head. We are on the threshold to my hunting grounds. The last time one of my own were dumb enough to drink anything produced by a great beast, we had this little talk, to."

"Your hunting grounds? Huh… I am dead aren't I?" When giants died, they went to the eternal frozen hunting grounds of Ymir to hunt creatures of the past for the rest of eternity,"And that makes you Ymir I'm guessing.

Ymir grinned, his teeth were pearly white. "That didn't take you too long. Now, the fact that you didn't die straight away means good things. Assuming you survive, that is." Ymir stroked his beard as he looked down at Goliath.

"So I'm not dead. Well, that's a bonus. Wait, does that mean?" Goliath looked up hopefully at the winter god.

"You see, when a monster drinks the nectar, it temporarily gives them something that they never had before. A connection to the tree. The smaller monsters can't stand the energy rush and normally die in horrible ways. But giants! I made you be made of sterner stuff! And two of the three times that this has happened, it worked out!"

"So, what you're saying is, that if I wake up? I have an animal?" Goliath felt like a kid at his first feast.

"Well, that's assuming you survive the actual summoning. Well, no point in wasting any more of your time!" Ymir cheerfully lifted his massive sword and slammed the butt into Goliath's head.

Goliath woke with a start. Before he could even react, a dazzling light appeared in front of him. It seemed to shine for a long time, building up feeling inside him. He felt like the days an electrical storm would roll over Jotunheim, charged. When the light dissipated as fast as it came. The blindness it left Goliath with faded, and found himself looking at something magnificent. It was like a deep cultural memory. Something from the beginning of his people's history, something the humans had taken from the giants thousands of years before. It was like an elephant, but it's tusks were much larger, and it had a thick coat of brown hair. It was a mammoth. Goliath shakily reached out his hand and touched the beasts trunk. It felt like a thunderbolt discharged and Goliath blacked out, but didn't dream this time.


	10. Chapter 10: Down Time

**Sorry it took me so long put another one of these out, all two people who read this. I had a bit of writer's block.**

Murder looked down into the small valley. Goliath and his mammoth, which Goliath named Stone-tusk were down there doing what both of them seemed to enjoy the most, eating. The hairy beast and Goliath were shockingly similar. They both seemed to have the same lazy mannerisms, ate at almost every opportunity, and loved a good game of break the tree. Murder turned and walked away from the edge of the valley.

"How long are you going to be gone?" Zane said as he strode up alongside him.

"A few hours. And I should come back with information on where our green cloaked friends are headed next."

Murder took a bit of a running start and leaped. He turned into a crow before he hit the ground and flew off toward the closest village. He always liked being a crow. Being any other bird feels functionally the same, but most people looked at him like he was about to kill something as a crow. People were afraid of him like this, and he didn't even have to put any effort into it.

Meanwhile, back in northern Eura, Meilin was quickly rifling through the book of monsters. After Connor had given up the boar talisman, she had no reason to be here, but she needed to know. Know how to deal with monsters. The most useful tips she found she quickly committed to memory. Jorogumo couldn't continue fighting if their spider half is too injured, a common herb called OgreNap will knock a giant out for hours, silver burns a shapeshifter's skin, and Asanbosam can't see in bright light. She left the book open as she silently left her friends behind.

Murder landed quietly on the outskirts of the town. He shifted into his usual towngoing form. He looked mundane as possible. He made sure he had an easily forgettable face and brown non-specific cloths. He walked through the little village with the humans doing their usual day to day activities. Every once and a while, a random shop owner or citizen would catch his eye, and theirs would flash silver. There were always at least three shapeshifters in every Euran town. There were less on the other continents, but they were still there. Murder stepped into a tavern.

One of the barmaids looked up and signalled him. She gestured toward a door in the back of the taver. Once the two shapeshifters were outside, they reverted to their true forms. Murder had his regular mischievous smirk and mop of wild hair. The other shapeshifter had either cut or simply shifted her hair into a mohawk. Murder knew her.

"Bandit? I thought you were a Niloan messenger."

"Well, the giants have requested more Shapeshifters in Amaya." Her voice carried the same averace as most of the shape changing race.

Murder nodded in interest,"So, where are our green clad friends headed now?"

Bandit continued. "One split off from the rest, looks to be headed toward Zhong. The others? Well, they look like they're headed this way. Looking for you lot."

 _That_ was something Murder didn't expect. He thought the green group would be headed back to the fortress on their island to plan for the next expedition. Not for the to split up and then go monster hunting… Something completely unexpected.

All the way back in Amaya, something decisions with massive implications were being discussed.

Gogmagog looked at the stone tablet in his hand,"First order of business, we need to know all the tribes are here." He began reading down the list,"Titans?"

A giant with long flowing hair responded,"Present."

"Annunaki?"

A female giant that would look much more at home in Nilo or Zhong pounded the but of her weapon into the ground.

"Nahullo?"

This answer came from a pale skinned red haired giant, who simply grunted.

"Fomorians?"

Gogmagog looked up and received his answer from the deformed brutish face of the chief of the Fomorians.

"Jotun?"

"Present.", This response came from an old white haired giant.

"And finally," Gogmagog turned toward the final cheif,"The Trolls."

"Now that I know that we are all represented, we can get to the real business." Gogmagog settled himself down in his makeshift throne,"We need to start making our presence known. It's time for us to leave the mountain."


End file.
